The Blue Astronomer I and II - The Astronomer

In the painting Las Meninas, “otherness” is highlighted in the figure of the dwarf Maria Barbola. In many portraits of dynastic children, the royal child was deliberately placed against the misshapen figure of a dwarf, thereby emphasizing, and making visible the hereditary right of royal lineage.

In my retelling of her story, Maria Barbola is a visionary astronomer. She is the one who sees beyond the limitations of the court to see the stars through her telescope. She is from the past, but also of the future as she wears the blue headgear of an astronaut. Her mask is one that identifies her as a beauty and the owl that accompanies her belongs to the goddess Athena, symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity, and erudition.